Of Dreams And Endurance
by Nejko
Summary: A few weeks passed since Sakura saw Itachi. To her, they meet again at the worst possible time, but Itachi is set on making use of this opportunity. Naturally, the pinkette is not pleased but maybe in the end she will see the perks of it. Non-Massacre AU, Sequel to 'Cat got your tongue'.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Here's the sequel to "Cat got your tongue". I hope you enjoy! It's rated M for swearing and kind of suggestive themes?

* * *

_It was dark and Sakura was lying on a heap of blankets and cushions. She could feel heat hitting directly on her naked skin, her clothes scattered beside the bed along with a different, distinctly male outfit._

"_Sakura", a voice whispered in her ear, deliciously deep and husky that made her shiver in delight. A toned, warm body was pressed against her, hands caressing her sides as they slowly rose up her body, touching her in all the right places just not where she ached the most._

_She knew who she was currently in bed with and where this was all leading. It wasn't her normal way of doing things, but right now, everything felt so entirely pleasurable, she didn't even care. It was intoxicating, the scent, the soft noises of appreciation her lover made and the touch that made her entire body tingle._

_Sakura arched her back as a mouth kissed and gently bit along her neck, wrapping her arms around the broad shoulders that belonged to the body she so desired._

"_Kiss me", she breathed and a low chuckle erupted from the man. But he complied and caught her lips, making her feel more aroused than she ever thought possible. _

"_Do you want more?" the voice spoke again and Sakura replied immediately._

"_Yes!" she could feel his hands wander again and slowly getting closer to her aching core. His finger skimmed her belly button and he reached for the them of her panties to- _beeeep beeep beeep!

Sakura awoke with a start, still feeling hazy from her dream. _"Shit!"_, she thought. Not again. For a few weeks nor, she would have the same kind of dream almost every night. And every night, the same person would play the starring role in it.

"_Uchiha Itachi, that little shit",_ over the weeks she began to slowly resent the man. She did have a small crush on him for a whole while now, but it wasn't until their encounter where he helped her search for her "lost" cat, that her thoughts began to shift from innocent admiration to something different entirely.

He just _had_ to get that close to say goodbye and whisper in her ear like that! And then the guy goes of, not to be seen again.

So Sakura planned to punch the living daylights out of him when she saw him again. Or kiss him, that depended on the situation.

Pancakes jumped on the bed then, bumping heads with Sakura and flopping on his back to get his daily belly rub. Sakura complied gladly and petted her cat. The wounds she found him with were already healed and even though as a stray, he was still wary of other people, he was very affectionate with her and didn't miss any chance to be close to her.

He did have his antics though, for instance her would wake her up in the middle of the night, by _pawing her eyelid open_, because he wanted to eat. And he absolutely despised her team. He would attack them whenever they were close enough and was good at it too, not even Sasuke, who prided himself with being attentive, would notice as Pancakes sneaked up to him and the proceeded to bite bis feet, calves, ears, fingers, anything really he could get access to.

Her team, in turn, hated her cat. But while Pancakes was able to get away with it, physical pain was promised to anybody who would harm her cat. Once Kakashi dodged his attack, causing the kitten to land on the floor harshly, and that earned him a broken nose. Granted, Sakura healed it directly after, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful.

Since then, her team avoided her apartment.

Sakura got out of bed, to prepare for the day. She had a training session with her team to attend. Sasuke and Naruto both were rather grumpy recently, caused by their most recent failure to sort out who was stronger. As Sakura had predicted, they returned at the exact same time from their first solo mission.

They treated it as if the world was ending, while Sakura treated herself and her girlfriends a nice weekend at the spa from the money she won with betting on her teammates.

Naruto and Sasuke were not happy as they learned that Sakura bet on them, but Sakura explained (lied), that she actually wanted to prevent them from returning at the same time by betting on that outcome. She was very similar to her Shishou Tsunade after all, who was widely known as the worst gambler on the planet. That explanation (lie) seemed to placate them a bit and they were able to continue working as a team.

Sakura took a quick shower and then ventured into the kitchen to prepare breakfast as well as a Bento for later. She decided to prepare one for Naruto too, since it was the end of the month and her friend was always a bit broke around now.

When she was finished, she open a can of cat-food for Pancakes and presented it to the loudly mewing cat. Pancakes sniffed at it once and then decided it wasn't to his liking, turning to Sakura again and pretending to be the starved cat that he definitely wasn't.

"Ungrateful thing, you." Sakura chuckled,"It's either that or nothing. That's all I have left." She would have to go shopping after training.

After checking if all the windows were closed, she locked her apartment and made her way to the training grounds.

She had a bit of tension to get rid of and couldn't wait to punch anything.

* * *

Sasuke ordered Naruto to come to training earlier than usual, since he wanted to discuss the _situation_ regarding Sakura and his brother. Naruto was still half asleep when he arrived and slumped onto the floor ready to continue sleeping.

"Dobe, wake up." Sasuke snapped. He really didn't want to care about whatever his brother did, but the thought of them as a couple was _not good._ He was sure Naruto would agree with him, he still thought Sakura was in love with Sasuke after all.

"Yeah yeah, teme. So, what is so important that you had to rob me of my sleep and morning Ramen?" Naruto yawned.

Sasuke decided to just plain out say it. He doubted that Naruto would stay awake much longer if he didn't do something to wake him up.

"Itachi wants to court Sakura."

Naruto blinked at him. And stared. And blinked. And stared.

"He wants to do _what?_", came the answer as realization dawned upon him.

"He wants to court her. Go out with her. Dobe, learn to listen." Sasuke repeated exasperated. He _really _didn't want to deal with this.

"But Sakura-chan loves you right?" Naruto sounded shocked. Sasuke sighed, this would take a while.

"No she doesn't. And we told you that repeatedly. I'm not even single and you know that." Sasuke said.

"But you brother doesn't even know Sakura-chan." Naruto stated.

"Apparently he does. Anyway, do you want to let this happen? Imagine the two of them together. Itachi is creative in annoying me already, but he and Sakura combined..." Sasuke didn't finish the sentence. Just imagining it was enough to give him a headache.

Naruto paled. "You're right." he said,"But shouldn't it be fine as long as Sakura-chan doesn't like him, right?"

Sasuke sighed. "Normally yes, but that is my brother we are talking about. He usually gets what he wants."

"Oh yeah." Naruto said "So what do you plan to do? Just keep them from meeting again so he gives up at some point?"

"No, that wouldn't work. He's too persistent. But maybe if she had a boyfriend..." Sasuke trailed off.

Naruto wasn't happy with that. He had just learned that Sakura was not in love with Sasuke after all. Granted they said they told him and Sasuke had a lover and all, but still. They had to protect her!

"No, Sakura-chan can't have a boyfriend!" Naruto shouted. What a terrible thought that was.

The sound from knuckles cracking suddenly sounded from behind them, making their blood freeze.

"And why would that be, Naruto-kun?" came the icy voice of Sakura. Naruto knew he was in deep shit, she only called him 'Naruto-kun' when he was about to be beaten into a pulp.

"Ahaha, Sakura-chan. Since when where you there? We totally didn't notice you..." Naruto said with a fake grin and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Let's spar, Naruto, shall we?" Sakura asked sweetly. But the friendly tone of her voice was contradicting with the way she maliciously cracked her knuckles.

Grabbing Naruto by the collar, she dragged him away from Sasuke. "Sasukeeeee, help meeee!" came the wail from the blond, staring at his friend pleadingly.

Said Uchiha continued to stare at them in a mixture of relieve and pity. He didn't want to be in Naruto's place right now. Sakura seemed mad and not just at what Naruto said. She was scary when she was like that, Sasuke had to admit. So he just shrugged at Naruto and ignored the shouts of 'traitor' and 'bastard'.

Naruto would forgive him, he knew that. Sakura on the other hand...

* * *

"So who's that girl you've been stalking?" Shisui asked as Itachi and him made their way to the Dango shop.

"Hn." was all Itachi answered. Of course, he knew that Shisui knew who he was _stalking,_ not that he would use that word to describe his actions. He was merely finding out more about her, to confirm if she really was as interesting as he had presumed.

She had lived up to his expectations and even exceeded them. By know, his small interest had developed into full blown attraction and he was just waiting for the right moment to approach her.

What bothered him was that there was no sign of her if she was attracted to him in return. Sure she had blushed when he came close, but that could also be a sign of inexperience and not being used to be close to men, in _that way_.

"Oh come on Itachi, when will you make your move? It's been weeks since you came home with that box of Onigiri. You wouldn't even let me have one." his cousin continued with a fake pout.

Itachi sighed. He didn't want to give Shisui too much information regarding Sakura, but he was his best friend after all.

"Soon, Shisui. For now I will just approach her normally." Itachi surrendered to the questioning.

They arrived at the Dango stand and gave the waitress their respective orders. It had become a tradition for them to eat Dango together, ever since they both had more work and missions to do and didn't get to see each other as often as they did when they were younger. And even then, Itachi was busy with being trained to become ANBU and very early, leading his own team.

Shisui had been part of the Konoha Police force, but approximately a year ago he had grown bored and became a Genin teacher instead. The Hokage was delighted and told him, that he was probably the only Uchiha, except Obito, she would feel comfortable giving such a task. The other Uchihas tended to be too intimidating and cold, she continued with a pointed look at Itachi, who had been there to give a mission report.

"Then maybe today is the day, Itachi-chan!" Shisui said, "My team gets to train with Kakashi's team today, but Kyouko is sick so I'm looking for someone to replace her~"

Itachi stared at him blankly for a second. "You want me to replace your Genin student?" he asked almost incredulous.

"Sure. I mean, with Kakashi-san and I sparring and my two other brats fighting Naruto and Sasuke, there would be someone left, right?" Shisui explained excitedly.

Itachi thought about it. That could be a good opportunity to get close to Sakura and gauge her reaction to him. And being Shisui's best friend, he could just pretend he was dragged into it against his will.

"Fine" he said finally. Shisui grew even more excited. Watching his cousin trying to woo a certain pinkette would definitely be fun.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, you know we just want to protect you." he said solemnly.

"Baka, you don't need to protect me from everything. I can protect myself now and even you if you need it. It's not that I don't want you to ever save me, but have some trust in me alright?" she smiled.

"But Sakura-chaaan, what if you meet someone bad and scary?" Naruto whined.

"Hey, maybe that's my type." she laughed, "But even then, it's my decision."

Naruto didn't answer then, but only scrunched up his nose in a frown. Sakura stifled a sigh. She had finally calmed down and could think about Uchiha Itachi without having thoughts of murder.

It wasn't as if she wanted to think about him, it just kind of happened... All the time. It didn't help at all that she hadn't seen him for weeks. Before, that was nothing unusual, but during the past weeks she often felt as if his presence was somewhere near, but upon looking, she couldn't fin anything. Besides, there hardly any chance Uchiha Itachi was interested in her. Let alone stalk her.

"_Yeah as I he would do something as creepy as that." _she thought.

But honestly, she really wanted to see him again. Who knows, maybe in reality he wasn't that attractive and her dreams were just exaggerated.

* * *

Kakashi knew something was wrong when Sakura actually _choked on her water _as soon as she set eyes on Uchiha Itachi. Granted, he was surprised to see him there with Shisui too, instead of one of his midgets, but Sakura...

She looked ready to pummel him into the ground.

"Kakashi-san!" shouted Shisui from afar, "One of my students is sick so I bought my dearest cousin as a replacement."

Kakashi really thought choosing Itachi to replace a twelve-year-old Genin might have been _just a bit_ overkill. Still, he chose not to comment on it.

But he certainly was in a predicament. He couldn't let Sakura fight the other two Genin, her mood was way too bad for that and her opponent would most likely end up in hospital. But the way she looked at Sasuke's brother...

Shisui on the other hand excitedly suggested to let her fight Itachi, explaining how his students didn't have the necessary Chakra control to learn from Sakura's techniques. Kakashi really couldn't argue with that and so agreed. He just hoped they wouldn't disturb his reading to much, a new Icha Icha volume had just been published and he still was only at the third time reading it.

Well, they were adults. Surely they were able to get along without attacking each other outside of sparring.

* * *

Sakura could not believe it. Sure, she wished to see him again, but what she didn't expect was for him to look _even better_ than in her dreams. She suppressed a desperate groan. This could not end well.

It all got worse when Kakashi announced that she would be fighting him. _"Can this get any worse?" _she thought.

Apparently, it could as Itachi stood before her and swiftly took of the cloak that was covering him before. Spring had just begun and it was still a bit chilly, but still to warm to comfortably fight with a cloak on, Sakura could admit that.

_However, _that did not mean that he hat to loom so damn sexy! The sight of him taking his cloak of alone was so attractive that she had to look away, a blush threatening to rise to her cheeks. But then he was in front of her and she only half successfully stopped herself from staring._"Kami, why did I have to have that dream tonight!" _ she berated herself as if she had any influence over her dreams.

Staring at him could turn into a real problem if he took their fight seriously. He used Genjutsu after all, and looking at his eyes were not the best way to avoid those.

She was ripped out of her thoughts when Itachi calmly stated, "Are you ready to begin, Sakura-san?"

Kami, the way he said her name...

"A-ah, sure Uchi- Itachi-san." she stuttered and quickly corrected herself as he looked at her almost warningly when she started to address him by his last name. Great, now she couldn't even speak properly anymore.

Neither of them moved for a moment, until Sakura had enough and charged at him with her fist raised and ready to punch him.

He dodged and began to attack on his own. So the fighting began.

After about fifteen minutes of sparring something changed. Until then, they fought with almost equal strength, both holding back the techniques that would be deathly on the spot. Itachi only used the first stage of the Sharingan, while Sakura only packed half the usual amount of Chakra into her punches.

The change started when she called for a quick stop to discard the thicker shirt she wore over her top. The top itself was her favourite for training, as it was rather thin but opaque and clung to her body like a second skin, making moving in it really easy.

She didn't think about how she looked like, in only a top and her skirt with shorts underneath, for she was too immersed in the fight. After becoming Tsunade's apprentice she started taking her training much more serious and so today too, once the spar with Itachi started she forgot all about her earlier thoughts, concentrating on the fight and how to counter all of his techniques.

Until she saw his eyes darken with _something_ that is...

After they took up the fight once again, he didn't move like before. He would come way too close to her when blocking and attacking and every now and then he would touch her legs or arms when it was unnecessary.

That alone she could handle, albeit a bit distracted, but then he started to graze her waist and the small of her back, just lightly and not even inappropriately. That she could still deal with, she was a professional after all, but _damn _did it remind her of the dream she had that night.

She could already feel the tingling in her lower stomach and cursed inwardly. Luckily, Itachi didn't seem to notice her strange reactions or if he did, he didn't show it at all.

It drove her crazy. Was that on purpose? Or just coincidence? He did do that way-to-close-to-be-casual-thing the last time they saw after all. She also doubted anything he did was random, but then again except for the change in his look and the touches he didn't act any different. He was still focused on their spar with a stoic look on his face.

Or maybe he did notice, for the next moment he spoke with his deep, husky voice that was way too much like the way he spoke in her dream.

"Is something the matter, _Sakura-san?_"

Oh Kami, let this stop. She was fighting both the urge to flee from the situation and from him and the urge to much much closer to him at the same time.

"Um.. no, Itachi-san. I'm fine." she answered, her breath heavy for different reasons than the physical exertion.

"Very well, we shall continue." he said, before getting into his fighting stance once again.

* * *

She was reacting to him. Not the same way she did before, her face was just slightly, adorably flushed in comparison to the colour her face took on when he got close to her the first time.

In general she behaved differently than she did that night. After it, he thought she might cry a lot, but when he observed her in the weeks after, he only saw her cry once again. It wasn't after she got the nasty wound from sparring with his little brother, or when a patient died after a successful surgery.

It was really a coincidence that he saw it, when he visited the library one day. She was sitting there between mountains of scrolls and tomes searching for something in it. She looked like she had been there for a while, with dark circles under her eyes and wrinkled clothing. After a while, she closed another book and whispered something only meant for her own ears, but Itachi was able to hear it. _"There's no cure." _were her only words as tears gathered in her eyes.

Watching her, Itachi had no idea what to do. Should he go there and comfort her? He wanted to, but would she accept it? The sight of her, tears running down her face in shimmering streaks was almost physically painful to watch. His insides constricted and he made a step forward to at least offer _some _sort of solace, but just then she jumped up, wiped away her tears and said, louder this time, _"No, I just have to try harder!" _and stormed away, leaving him there.

That was when he concluded she cried when she felt helpless. Remembering the night he saw her crying and looking for her cat, he felt really grateful that he had been there to help her. He also found out that she never gave up and didn't stop trying unless forced to do so or reaching her goal.

Two days later, when he came back from another mission and was in the Hokage tower to give his report, he overheard Tsunade congratulating her for curing the disease of a patient that everyone thought was without hope. He felt almost.. proud hearing that and couldn't stop the slight smile to surface behind his ANBU mask.

And now he knew that this strong and passionate Kunoichi was, physically at least, attracted to him. It was a good start, he thought, and he planned to meet her more often from now on.

He watched her as they continued to fight. She was still concentrating but he could see that she was getting more distracted by the second. And she began to look rather... _frustrated. _He should end this soon he decided, as much as he enjoyed being close to her, or she might misunderstand his intentions.

Even so, he could not resist ending the fight by apprehending her in a rather inappropriate way. He waited until she was about to punch him, seizing her wrist and spinning her around until her back hit his chest. Then he flipped out a Kunai, holding it to her throat.

"I believe I have won, Sakura-san." he said, his breath fanning against her ear and neck.

They were both panting heavily, covered in dust and dirt from their sparring. Sakura's preference to shatter the earth into little pieces did certainly not help staying clean, as Itachi much preferred to do. Itachi's breath was heavier than Sakura's. He still suffered slightly from the aftermath of a lung illness that caused his lungs to deteriorate and although he was healthy now, his stamina was substandard. It seemed she knew that and wanted to use it for her advantage, Itachi found out as she growled something about 'needing just a bit longer'.

It took her a bit to answer though and Itachi used the time to both catch his breath and enjoy the feel of her body against his, her warmth seeping through their clothing and her form very much fitting into his. It was as if they were made for each other.

"Fine, you won. Now let go of me." she growled, clenching her teeth and closing her eyes.

That was not the reaction Itachi hoped for, and so he decided to take it a step further. If she still didn't react to this he would have to deal with her rejection.

He pulled her even closer then and leaned his head beside her ear and purred, "And why should I do that, _Sakura-san?"_

She shivered at that and Itachi rejoiced in the blush that now covered her face. He was just about to say something else to her, when she broke free of his hold. She spun around, and angry frown adorning her face and he was sure she would attack him just then.

And sure enough, she lunged at him. What he didn't expect was her lips crashing onto his.

* * *

She had enough. That stupid Uchiha bastard was doing this on purpose. Definitely. Sakura was furious. First in her damned dream and then to make the entire situation worse, he was doing that_ thing_ again. Talking with that sexy voice directly into her ear, and for all the training that Sakura underwent to resist seduction and hide her emotions, she couldn't stop the shiver from running through her body.

Granted, her ability to hide her emotions was by far the worst out of her team, and she didn't even bother trying when she was inside the walls of Konoha, but that was not important in that moment. She shouldn't react like that. What if he noticed?

Then, that bastard even refused to let her go and had the nerve to ask why he should. Worse, she fucking _shivered. _

Sakura took a moment to decide what to do next. Hit him? Out of question, he was too good of a Shinobi to let that happen. Shout an him? True, Sasuke's reaction to her screaming at Itachi for being a pervert might be worth it, but then again, Itachi didn't seem to think himself above teasing her so that might just backfire as well. Give in? But to what exactly? She could just tell him he won, but she really really didn't want to do that. So maybe she should surprise him, in the way he would least expect...

An idea popped into her head, or rather she let it come out of the chains she put around that thought since this morning, and as embarrassing it might be afterwards, she would surprise him, and even get an answer to the question if his lips were as soft as in her fantasies.

That being decided she quickly broke free of his hold and did what she wanted to do for a longer time that she wanted to admit to herself.

She kissed him.

She slung her arms around his neck to pull him down to her level and surprisingly he didn't resist.

It was her turn to he shocked when Itachi began to _kiss back. _It might have been her plan to know what he would do, but despite all the teasing and the touching he did, she didn't think he would react like that. He was quite passionate too, as he pulled her into his chest by her waist and cupped her face with the other hand.

She felt his lips, that by the way were softer than in her dreams and she couldn't wait to tell Ino about, brush over her own, coaxing her for more. He ran his tongue along her seam and she opened her mouth for him, shivering again as she tasted him and felt his tongue curl around hers.

She clenched a fist into his shirt and the other hand drew through the thick tresses of his hair. Deep deep in her head, an irritated voice asked how he could have soft hair like that and made a note to ask him about it later.

The way he made her feel was absolute divine, so good she even forgot that at the moment her was dominating her completely and it took her a few minutes of wonderfulness to remember that she didn't want to be purely submissive.

She grew bolder then and started to take the initiative. She tugged a little more forcefully on his ponytail, but Itachi didn't seem to mind, in fact he let out a low growl of approval.

* * *

Meanwhile, Team Kakashi and Team Shisui were standing a bit away, staring at them. After they finished the spar, Naruto insisted on going to Ichiraku's, but his appetite instantly vanished as he laid his eyes on Sakura and Itachi _making out. _In public no less.

So now, Kakashi and Shisui were both covering the eyes of the Genin and while Shisui internally congratulated his cousin, Kakashi's thoughts could not form anything more coherent than white noise.

Sasuke possibly had the worst reaction. Naruto could swear he saw his best friend actually gag and he felt a bit sorry for him.

Finally, Shisui spoke up, "Well, let's just leave them here and go eat alone. Sasuke, you look like you could use a glass of water, is everything alright?"

Ever so cheerful, he started to steer the entire group off the training ground, giving Itachi a mental thumbs up.

* * *

It took a while until they eventually separated, both panting even harder that after their spar and silence reigned over them for a few seconds.

It was Sakura who spoke first then, catching her breath earlier than the Uchiha. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she could swear she was a light blush on Itachi's cheeks as well.

"So, do you wanna go on a date with me?"

* * *

**Things I kind of want to say**

**Thank you for reading! :)**

I know I kind of slaughtered Itachi's character here and Sakura is different from her canon-self too, but I hope I didn't drive anyone away with my interpretation of these characters. Well if I did, they would most likely not read this far. I actually have no idea where this came from, I was working on the first version of this sequel, which didn't really work out that well when i hit me. So know there it is, sexually frustrated Sakura.

I also wanted to keep this under 5k words, which it is without the Author's note, but in the end I wanted to write a bit here so it's longer.

Reviews would make me very very happy.~

Also should I continue with this AU? I still have some Ideas for it and as long as you guys don't tell me it's awful I'll probably write it ^^

I hope you have a wonderful day/night!


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